POLAK TRIAL: Jury Deliberating Case

The fate of Richard Polak is now in the hands of a Polk County jury. Closing arguments were heard in Polak’s first degree murder trial Thursday afternoon.

Polak is accused of killing Charles Freeborn last August. The defense says there is no evidence to tie him to the shooting and blame police and their lack of “follow-through.”

“For the state to call this investigation a thorough and complete investigation is ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. And the investigators looked at reports and said we should have followed up on that. That`s important,” defense attorney Christine Branstad told the jury.

Prosecutors say police turned their focus to Polak once they found a GPS in his car that placed him near the scene of the murder.

The prosecution told the jury that Polak also had a motive — revenge for a drug deal gone bad a few months earlier.